What to Expect from Bill Self: Recruiting

Bill will find a player early that he falls in love with, and he will recruit them no matter what any other people are saying. The best analogy to this right now is is Kalen Grimes. Bill really liked Kalen when many people in the state of Illinois believed Shaun Pruitt to be the better player.

Self will also quit recruiting someone who he does not think is any good despite his press. Self wanted nothing to do with Andre Iguodala, mainly because Andre cannot hit water from a battleship with his jump shot. The entire area of central Illinois wanted Andre to attend Illinois, but Self wanted none of it.

If you hear about a junior that Kansas is targeting heavily, you can believe Self will recruit him no matter what else happens throughout the recruiting season. He finds his pet players and sticks with them. Only with James Augustine was Norm Roberts able to convince Self that he needed to offer him a scholarship. Roberts turned out right in this regard, and this is the only time I know of in three years that an assistant coach was able to convince Self on a player he was not initially sold on.

The Bottom Line

Self will not complain that he cannot recruit to Kansas because of its geography. He will relish at this opportunity to recruit to Kansas. Self may believe the Kansas geography is a step up from Oklahoma & central Illinois. In two years, and maybe even sooner, I expect Self to have the Kansas program recruiting on the same level nationally as Arizona, Duke, and North Carolina. Kansas will be able to go head to head with these schools under Self and win the recruiting battles that Roy said he never won. I also expect Self to take more players that may not stay at Kansas for four years, and he will have no problem with this as long as they will play with the team while they are in Lawrence.